News and Opinion

The Independent Group for Change’s leader Anna Soubry has attacked the Lib Dems’ new revocation policy and hinted she wants the party removed from the People’s Vote campaign. In an attack on the Lib Dems’ new position, which would revoke Article 50 without any referendum if it wins a majority in an election, Soubry said […]

Guy Verhofstadt has told the Brexit Party to end their digs about the ‘undemocratic EU’ and comparisons to the Soviet Union because it’s Brexiteers in Westminster acting against the wishes of democracy. In a speech to the European parliament the Brexit negiotiator pointed the on-going saga over Boris Johnson’s prorogation of parliament. He told colleagues […]

Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn has hinted again he would remain neutral in a new Brexit referendum. He was writing for the Guardian ahead of Labour’s annual conference, where Corbyn is expected to come under increased pressure to explicitly back staying in the EU. The Labour leader said that the party would negotiate a new Leave […]

The government has demanded to know what schools and councils are doing to prepare for Brexit. In a letter schools minister Lord Agnew said the government needs “a clearer understanding of school preparedness” for the UK leaving the European Union. It urges schools to contact their food suppliers to ensure they will be able to […]

Jo Swinson’s speech to Lib Dem conference was well-received by the party faithful, but there were a number of areas of Lib Dem history she omitted from her speech, including the party’s policy of a second referendum. The headlines from the conference focused on the shift in policy on Brexit, with members backing a move […]

Brexit Party MEP Alexandra Phillips has been challenged in EU parliament about her involvement with Cambridge Analytica and angrily dismissed it all as ‘misinformation’ spread by ‘FBPE hashtag people’. Phillips became hostile in a session discussing foreign electoral interference and disinformation, when the conversation turned to her own involvement in disputed election processes. The Brexiteer […]

Protesters outside the doors of the Supreme Court have attacked Gina Miller as a ‘traitor’ and a ‘shyster’ as she left the first day of the hearing about Boris Johnson’s prorogation. The businesswoman is appealing a verdict on her earlier challenge over the legality of Boris Johnson’s decision to prorogue parliament for five weeks. During […]

Liberal Democrat leader Jo Swinson has warned Boris Johnson that being a woman will not stop her from toppling him as prime minister. The East Dunbartonshire MP told a rejuvenated party that the Conservative Party leader would find out that being a female was not a “weakness”. She told members in Bournemouth in her closing […]

Boris Johnson’s motive for proroguing parliament for so long was to ‘silence’ parliament, Supreme Court justices have heard. Supreme Court justices are considering appeals from two challenges that reached differing rulings on the prime minister’s unusually long suspension of parliament. The judges are being asked to determine whether Johnson’s advice to the Queen to prorogue […]

The government’s advocate general has refused to comment on whether the government could prorogue parliament straight after it is recalled. Protesters outside the Supreme Court in London where judges are due to consider legal challenges to Boris Johnson’s decision to suspend Parliament. Photograph: Kirsty O’Connor/PA Wire – Credit: PA While Lord Keen gave an undertaking […]

Broadcasting veteran David Dimbleby says he has never seen the country ‘so divided’ as it is over Brexit. Members of the media and protesters outside the Supreme Court in London. Picture: Kirsty O’Connor/PA Wire – Credit: PA Dimbleby, who has hosted the BBC’s coverage of every general election since 1979, spoke to protesters outside the […]

The House of Commons’ Brexit select committee have called on Michael Gove to answer questions on the government’s Yellowhammer documents. Six-pages of information relating to Operation Yellowhammer, a secret Whitehall dossier outlining the disruption the UK could face in the event of a no-deal Brexit, were released by the gvoernment last week after a demand […]

The government has been accused of hiding the ‘full picture’ in its release of Yellowhammer documents after Department of Transport files were leaked to the press. The contradicting reports suggest that Yellowhammer documents have significantly played down the impact of a no-deal Brexit on potential disruption to ports. The documents, which were seen by the […]

Boris Johnson has declined to provide a witness statement to the Supreme Court, raising questions about why the prime minister was not prepared to comment on the record about his plans. Lord Pannick, acting on behalf of Gina Miller, said that the prime minister’s motives for proroguing parliament were central to the court case and […]

A senior justice minister has refused to rule out a second prorogation of parliament as rumours grow that Boris Johnson and Dominic Cummings are considering it as a ‘nuclear option’. Will the government suspend Parliament for a second time?Justice Secretary @RobertBuckland dodges the question but says imagining what will happen in October would be "idle" […]

A legal battle over Boris Johnson’s prorogation of parliament has begun in the UK’s highest court. Members of the media and protesters outside the Supreme Court in London. Picture: Kirsty O’Connor/PA Wire – Credit: PA The Supreme Court in London is set to hear appeals from two challenges which were brought in English and Scottish […]

Boris Johnson’s trip to Luxembourg has made headlines in Tuesday’s newspapers with some calling it a ‘humiliation’ and others an ‘ambush’. Johnson travelled to Luxembourg for his first face-to-face meeting with European Commission president Jean-Claude Juncker since entering Downing Street. But it was an afternoon press conference – where Luxembourg PM Xavier Bettel continued despite […]

A new billboard featuring Jacob Rees-Mogg’s supine posture in the House of Commons features on a billboard ereced at Westminster Bridge Road in London. The House of Commons leader became an internet meme after he was pictured slumping on the benches of the lower house as MPs debated whether to take control of the agenda […]

Lord Sumption, a former UK Supreme Court judge, has claimed that Boris Johnson is taking a ‘hammer and sickle’ to our political culture. Speaking on BBC Newsnight, Sumption said he could not see how the prime minister “can leave without a deal on October 31st.” He said the Benn Act is “a very tightly drafted […]

Tory Brexiteer Mark Francois has claimed the ‘country will explode’ if the UK does not leave the European Union on October 31st. Mark Francois and Ash Sarkar on BBC Politics Live. Photograph: BBC. – Credit: Archant Speaking on BBC’s Politics Live alongside left-wing journalist Ash Sarkar, the Leave MP and deputy chairman of the ERG […]

Liberal Democrat leader Jo Swinson is will liken Boris Johnson to a dictator during her speech at party conference. The East Dunbartonshire MP is set to close her party’s four-day conference in Bournemouth with stinging criticism of the prime minister and his pursuit of a no-deal Brexit. Swinson is set to condemn Johnson for sacking […]

Photoshopped pictures of Boris Johnson’s empty lectern have already begun doing the rounds on Twitter after he failed to show up to his press conference in Luxembourg. Johnson in Luxembourg. pic.twitter.com/GE8W9HFVCt— Brandy Snap (@Brandy_Snap) September 16, 2019 After protesters heckled the prime minister during his visit, he declined to appear alongside his Luxembourger counterpart, sparking […]

A European leader has let loose his deep frustration with Boris Johnson and Brexit as the UK prime minister ducked their joint press conference. After joint talks with Boris Johnson, the Luxembourg prime minister Xavier Bettel was left to field press questions standing next to an empty podium. WATCH: Boris Johnson cancels press conference in […]

The Liberal Democrats could win ‘up to 100 seats’ in a general election with its anti-Brexit stance, MP Chuka Umunna has predicted. Chuka Umunna speaking during the Liberal Democrats autumn conference at the Bournemouth International Centre in Bournemouth. Photograph: Jonathan Brady/PA. – Credit: PA Wire/PA Images The party’s foreign and commonwealth affairs spokesman said his […]

Former prime minister has apologised for what his decision to hold an EU referendum sparked in his first major television interview since his resignation. As part of The Cameron Interview on ITV, the ex-Tory leader was asked if the decision to call the referendum haunted him. He replied: “Yeah, of course. You know, this is […]

Diehard Brexiteer Andrew Bridgen has accused the EU of threatening British lives in the event of a no-deal Brexit affecting medical supplies. The MP made the claim when he was asked by a German news channel if he was willing to risk lives for Brexit, in the wake of warnings that a no-deal situation could […]

MIKE BUONAIUTO is calling for urgent action against the light-touch approach Facebook takes towards political campaigning on its platform. Ever heard of the anonymised, political Facebook groups that gather data and then disappear within weeks of opening, with no obligation to declare any of their funding to the Electoral Commission? Or how it’s impossible to […]

A Lib Dem MP has criticised the party’s new stance to revoke Article 50 if it wins a general election – claiming a failure to compromise has led to rise of Farage and Johnson. Sir Norman Lamb said that his party was “playing with fire” by pledging to stop Brexit without a second referendum. Speaking […]

STEVE ANGLESEY on if the irrational work of irrational men is down to a diet either smacked out by meat or in the amphetamine grip of a sugar rush? Pork took an unexpected and unsavoury leading role in the last political biography written by Lord Ashcroft, so it comes as a relief that the foodstuffs […]

Scores of local Labour parties have backed a call for the national leadership to support the revocation of Article 50. Overall, 90 motions that have been submitted to the national party have been related to Brexit, with 81 calling for Labour to explicitly back Remain. The calls for the revocation of Article 50 are being […]

Boris Johnson has been forced to cancel his outdoors press conference in Luxembourg after anti-Brexit protesters turned up to greet him. Protesters outside the Luxembourg Ministry of State in Luxembourg, prior to a meeting between Prime Minister Boris Johnson and Luxembourg Prime Minister Xavier Bettel. PA Photo. Picture date: Monday September 16, 2019. See PA […]

After articles appeared in the rightwing press about its international work, the Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI) said it has had a spike in online donations – but others are withdrawing their support. In response to the @MailOnline & @thetimes:we are proud of our international work. Its saves (mostly kids') lives. And we haven't kept […]